


the dragon in the room

by Engineer104



Series: Fluff(?)cember Power Hour (or Month) [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Bittersweet, Drinking, F/M, Fluff, Post-Black Eagles Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Post-Canon, Silver Snow persuasion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27814438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engineer104/pseuds/Engineer104
Summary: Seteth asks Manuela to help him pick up the pieces after Rhea's death.For Fluffcember Day 1: "Sharing a Drink"
Relationships: Manuela Casagranda/Seteth
Series: Fluff(?)cember Power Hour (or Month) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035183
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	the dragon in the room

**Author's Note:**

> ah yes "fluff". that's what this is, definitely

Manuela used to believe that anyone that still breathed by the time they made it to her healing tent or infirmary was within reach, within help, even if on the brink of death, but that was before Lady Rhea transformed into something rabid and beastly and...beyond reach. 

Yet she felt the sting of that loss, so soon after she returned, so soon after they thought the evil vanquished and the war ended, as sharply as she did the night young Emperor Edelgard led her armies against Garreg Mach. 

Manuela would always love Garreg Mach, but like her time as a diva at Mittelfrank, all things must pass. 

She told Seteth this when she found him slumped over his desk in his study. She’d half-expected him in the cathedral instead, seeking solace with a goddess she no longer understood as well as she’d thought, but then Seteth did always find comfort in administrative work, in that which he could so much more easily control. 

Rhea’s death - destruction at their hands - had to be tormenting him more than most. 

Manuela poured him a drink from her flask into a teacup, and if she didn’t already know he was out of sorts the fact he accepted the heavy liquor without persuasion or arguing would’ve been confirmation. He threw it all back without flinching, like an expert, and she would’ve been impressed if this had been another foray into a tavern or inn. 

“I’m lost,” he confessed after another drink. (He declined a third after she offered.) “In truth, despite the last five years - or perhaps because of them - I do not know what a Garreg Mach without Lady Rhea will be.”

“Like an opera house without its diva, I imagine,” Manuela said. 

Seteth snorted but didn’t complain about her comparison. He pinched the bridge of his nose before raising his head with a sigh. “It’s no matter,” he said, steeling himself. “There’s still work to be done. We shall have to forge ahead without her, even knowing that—well, I have...lived with such pain before.”

Manuela, finding some bravery within herself, rested her hand on his. “I can’t claim to know what you have gone through, Seteth, but I…”

He turned his hand over, to her surprise, weaving their fingers together. “Manuela, I know I can’t change your mind once you’ve made it up,” he said, holding her gaze steady, “but would you stay just long enough to return the monastery to some _shade_ of what it once was? Please?” A smile flickered over his face, precious in how rare it had been of late. “I trust you, through your genuine faith and how steadfast you’ve been in the time I’ve known you. I n—Garreg Mach needs you.”

Manuela smiled as a fond heat curled in her chest. She held Seteth’s hand in both of hers and said, “You foolish man. You can’t even tell me that you want me here too?”

Seteth scrubbed his other hand over his face, so she couldn’t see it when he mumbled, “I’d hoped that went without saying.”

“Then yes,” Manuela said. “I will help.”

For she’d been a fool to think Garreg Mach - or herself - beyond help. 

**Author's Note:**

> Manuela/Seteth...underrated...Manuela in general...underrated...


End file.
